''Corema conradii'' is a species of flowering plant in the

heath family The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

known by the common name broom crowberry. It is native to eastern North America, where it has a

disjunct distribution In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...

, occurring intermittently from Nova Scotia to Massachusetts, in the Shawangunk Mountains of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.''Corema conradii''.
Center for Plant Conservation. Studies indicate that the plant might be a hybrid between ancestral populations of '' Corema album'' and ''

Ceratiola ''Ceratiola'' is a genus of flowering plants with a single species, ''Ceratiola ericoides'', the sand heath, sandhill-rosemary or Florida-rosemary, is a species of shrub usually included in the plant family Ericaceae, though treated by some bota ...

''.

Description

This plant, one of only two species in genus '' Corema'', is a small perennial

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

or subshrub. It branches to about 60 centimeters in maximum height.''Corema conradii''.
Flora of North America. It is shorter in stature in the southern part of its range, and sometimes takes a cushionlike form. It may grow colonially, forming a dense stand of up to 100% ground-cover.''Corema conradii''.
The Nature Conservancy. It has gray or reddish orange, shreddy bark. The yellow-green leaves are linear in shape and needlelike. They are up to 6 millimeters long but less than a millimeter wide. The herbage is aromatic. The species is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, with male and female reproductive parts occurring on separate individuals. The tiny sepals are reddish or purplish. Flowering generally starts in March. The fruit is a gray

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

under two millimeters wide.

Ecology

This plant grows on the coastal plain, often on very sandy soils. In Maine, it is associated with '' Empetrum nigrum'', '' Pinus rigida'', and small oaks. In Massachusetts, it can be found with ''P. rigida'', '' Betula populifolia'', ''

Vaccinium vacillans ''Vaccinium pallidum'' is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names hillside blueberry, Blue Ridge blueberry, late lowbush blueberry, and early lowbush blueberry. It is native to central Canada (Ontario) and the c ...

'', and '' Comptonia peregrina''. It is a dominant species on

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

and Cape Cod, forming a heathland. It is a fire-adapted species,Martine, C. T., et al. (2005)
The biology of ''Corema conradii'': Natural history, reproduction, and observations of a post-fire seedling recruitment.
''Northeastern Naturalist'' 12(3) 267-86. growing in openings in the forest which are created by fire burning away the canopy. It is adapted to disturbance and grows on disturbed soils and recent burns. It grows on pine barrens, which have a regime of frequent fires. High levels of seedling

recruitment Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the processes involved in choosing individual ...

are experienced in areas recently burned. In June 2001, an

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

practicing bombing at the Warren Grove, New Jersey range missed its target and started a fire that burned patches of ''C. conradii'' where no seedlings had been seen since observations began in 1996. After the fire, which killed the adult plants, many seedlings emerged over the next two years; unburned ''C. conradii'' stands nearby did not develop seedlings. Areas in Nantucket which have been grazed heavily, burned, and exposed to harsh conditions have wide stands of the plant. It may act as a pioneer species, taking hold on recently cleared soil. The fruits are collected by the ant species ''

Aphaenogaster rudis ''Aphaenogaster'' is a genus of myrmicine ants. About 200 species have been described, including 18 fossil species. They occur worldwide except in South America south of Colombia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Antarctica. They are often confused wi ...

'', which may aid in seed dispersal.

References

External links

USDA Plants Profile
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5170261 Ericoideae Flora of New Jersey Flora of the United States Flora of Canada